1. Field of the Invention
The invention may include input/output data processing organization of an information processing system having an advanced technology attachment (ATA) interface controller. Particularly, the invention may include peripheral configuration initialization through a shadow register space.
2. Background Information
The central processing unit (CPU) of a host computer system may be that part of a computer which controls all the other parts. The CPU fetches instructions from a memory local to the CPU and decodes these instructions to produce signals which control the other part of the computer. This may cause the CPU to transfer data between memory and an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) or to cause external devices or peripherals to perform input or output services. An example of a peripheral is a hard disk drive.
To cause a hard disk drive to perform input or output services, the CPU may initialize the hard disk drive so as to prepare the hard disk drive to receive operation commands. To initialize the hard disk drive, the CPU may transmit as a data packet one or more task-file initialization commands to the hard disk drive through what is called the task-file register set. Each task-file initialization command takes a length of time to execute. One reason for this is that each command execution is verified by the CPU before the next command may be executed.
Conventionally, the CPU dedicates a block of its processing time to the initialization of a peripheral. During this peripheral initialization dedication time, the CPU is prevented from performing other processing functions. In this way, the CPU performance is slowed down.